RESEARCH MAPPING USER - BORYS RUTH SASHA

BORYS

EXPLORING A USER GROUP

RUTH

SASHA

OUR USER GROUP: INSOMNIACS - BASED ON CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

We choose for creatures of the night because we all found that one the most interesing, we really like the BKOR collection, and we can all somewhat relate to our chosen user group, the insomniacs.

MAPPING THE USER

BORYS

KNOLLING THE USER GROUP

Signifiers:

Mentality - darkness - technology - night - appearance - dark colors - jobs - beds -
psychology - loneliness

DEFINING THE USER GROUP

Sleep anxiety is the fear of falling asleep. Other names for it include somniphobia, hypnophobia, sleep phobia, and sleep anxiety. Because of the fear and anxiety associated with falling asleep, the person suffering from it may find that they’re unable to fall asleep, despite being exhausted. And when the sufferer does happen to fall unconscious, their rest is often fitful, low-quality, and frequently interrupted. People with this condition often have an abundance of stress hormones like cortisol in their system, which further acts to keep them wired and awake which can lead to insomnia. (for some insomniacs it's actually a side effect)

SASHA

Imaginary insomniacs - sleep state misperception/paradoxical insomnia:
People who think they are awake/suffer from insomnia when they actually sleep a decent amount.

RUTH

Insomniacs who have trouble sleeping because they are unable to switch off their "work mode". Not to be confused with someone who simply works long hours which is behavioral rather than compulsive.

Keywords: workaholic, anxious, overthinking, stress, long-hours, (entrepreneur), compulsive-behavior

BORYS

USER STORIES

BORYS
WORKAHOLICS

RUTH
PARADOXAL INSOMNIA

SASHA
FEAR OF SLEEPING

Imaginary Insomniacs

As a person with sleep state misperception,
I want to believe that I sleep,
so that I can feel rested.

Workaholic Insomniacs

As a person who constantly thinks about work,
I need to switch off from work-mode,
so that I can feel sleep and feel rested.

Fear of Sleeping Insomniacs

As someone who’s afraid to go to sleep,
I need to take care of my mental state,
so that I won't get sleep deprived.

STEREOTYPES

1.1 After doing research on specific user group a lot of my assumptions got discarded cause they didn’t really apply. Some of the assumption are correct though, like having excessive nightmares being a sign of mental health problems. However anyone with these problems have their own causes. So most of my assumptions were correct, but don’t apply to everyone with excessive nightmares that lead to insomnia of course.

1.2 Nightmares are something I’ve always found interesting so researching about people who suffer from insomnia because of them is really interesting to me. I’m really curious about what kind of nightmares these people that are so bad that they are afraid to sleep, nightmares can be about literally anything of course. I definitely wouldn’t want to be apart of it considering I don’t like having actual nightmares.

2.1
Stereotypes about my user group that I have ran into are mostly the classics, what do you think of when you think about people with nightmares nightmares? Most people will say that they’re just people who watch too many horror movies or people who have had super intense trauma's. The first 100 googles results are all about horror movies.

2.2
Nightmares can be stereotyped by a lot of things, advertisements for example, see the image of the advertisement saying that even nightmares would go te sleep if you’d buy their mattress (and no the need of a new mattress is hardly ever the cause of nightmares). Another example is that people are very quick to link nightmares with children.

3.1
I don’t think my user group is being discriminated against at all, however discrimination can have a major impact on your nightmares as some people face so much unjust that they have actual nightmares about it. Nightmares is a very broad topic which people can easily underestimate, cause after all no one can experience someone else’s thoughts.

3.2

1.1 Through extensive research, I believe that I have managed to get rid of my assumptions about the user group. I myself used to have, and still have bouts of, insomnia which helps me relate to the group. However, everyone's experience with insomnia is different; there are many causes for insomnia and, therefore, many of the assumptions I made are not incorrect, but they don't apply to every person suffering from insomnia.

1.2 My personal interest stems from wanting to find out more about the different ways insomnia affects people. As previously mentioned, while I also have bouts of insomnia, everyone's experience is different. Mine stems from having anxiety and that is by far not the only cause for insomnia. I chose to narrow down the user group to workaholics with insomnia because I believe it is one of the less understood groups. Many people have preconceived notions about what it means to be a workaholic:
- being a workaholic is a choice
- working long hours is the same as being a workaholic
- being a workaholic isn't as serious as being addicted to substances

2.1 The aforementioned stereotypes are the most common ones I have run into. More than that, people often think workaholics value their work over family, friends, etc. While on the surface level this may seem like it, it doesn't come down to choice. Workaholics want to spend more time doing things other than work but simply struggle to switch from "work mode."

2.2 Suitcases, business-attire, laptops, phones, etc. often found in movies, tv-shows, books, memes

3.1 While I believe the group is far from being marginalized or discriminated against, I do think the stereotypes do the group very little justice. We often hear the phrase "workaholic" being thrown around carelessly because of the gross misconceptions behind the meaning of the word. Much like with other addictions, workaholism can have a stark effect on a person's life. Simplifying the term down to "a person who works a lot" diminished the severity of the condition. Much like saying "I'm depressed" when you are simply having a bad day but do not suffer depression, calling yourself a workaholic when you aren't one is not fair to people that suffer from workaholism.

3.2 I have not found examples of this yet.

1. “Everyone creates stereotypes. We cannot function in the world without them.” (S.
Gilman)
1.1 One of the assumptions I still have, is that there are many people who claim they suffer from insomnia. But not really, without sleep we die, and true insomniacs die within a few months. I assume that most people are not really awake, they just feel awake but they do sleep.

1.2 My interest is the insomniac mentality, I find sleeping problems interesting. Because in most cases the solution is figuring yourself out and finding what keeps your mind awake. your body sleeps, but some people don't let their mind sleep. How do can you help people sleep? I don't know, I wish I knew.

2.1 Very stressed people, people with bad habits relating to lifestyle as in food, health (mental and physical).Traumatic experiences, knowing there is a block in your mind and not figuring that out by finding the root of the problem. Sleeping pills.

2.2 Anything screen related, jobs where wearing a suit is required, people who watch the news obsessively, League of Legends players. High educated people, law, politics. western Europe/North America, luxury diagnose. Alarms, fast food, smoking, fidgeting/nervous ticks, unsafe environment.

3.1 I think medical people and psychologists are part of the stereotypes, and also non-medical/trusted sources saying stuff like 'do you suffer from insomnia? do this to solve all your problems!' I think partly the medication industry spreads stereotypes, that sleeping pills help with sleeping problems. thereby feeding the idea that external sources/medication/short term solution can help with mental problems like sleeping. because the body sleeps, the mind does not and the mind can be learned to control and to explore. And searching on the internet only results in white people, but that is a stereotype not necessarily related to insomnia.

3.2 Have you found examples where your ‘social group’ is reversing the stereotype; using the
known stereotypes and appropriating them for their own cause? (see more Hall, 5.1:
Reversing the stereotype).

Dream yoga, how to sleep perfect, all kinds of self help books and still issues with sleep, so my assumption is that that helps, but maybe that is also a stereotype.

RUTH

VENN DIAGRAM

SASHA